it's his second such school. the first was a montessori school. he made a lot of friends there but we moved him to a kindergarten program at a local atletic/cultural center so he could to learn swimming, gymnastics, ballet, and basically have great fun.

unfortunately the academic aspect is lacking so we suppliment that with a hangul tutor, twice a week.

i think my boy is the same age as your girl(?). he's born 1998 (feb). when i saw her and dutchman's son's pic. in the "let's see your kids" thread, i was wondering the same thing.

she has been to 3 schools, first was montessori NORIBANG
then she moved to another NORIBANG which she stayed until she was ready for kindergarten.. which was this year in march..

we put her in a kindergarten but she didnt like it, she kept asking me to return her to the NORIBANG! I said no until she asked me again and reall said please I hate that school and the teachers,, so I was like ok!
so that was 1 month there, then back to the NORIBANG!!
but I have to get her in a real school soon this noribang is good they do educate alot, but the atmosphere of a kindergarten is what I want her in!
next year I will be putting her in a English Kindergarten out in Bundang near ORI station my friend is opening the biggest in Kyung Gi do..
I will be working as a consultant, foreign kids will pay half price!
for marketing reasons!

but im thinking about after summer until winter, I need to put her in a school or not!, or maybe I should just get private tutors and send her to hakwons...

My son is only three (born in March of 2000). He also goes to a NoriBang for a few hours a day and spends a few hours a day with his halmoni. He is pretty much bilingual. My wife and I speak only English at home and, of course, it's only Korean at the Noribang and halmoni house.
Itaewonguy, I'm interested in the kindergarten you wrote about. When will it open? Will there be bussing? How much will it cost?

it will be 10 minutes from ORI station Bundang!
the price is not fixed but for foreign or mixed blood kids, the price will bre around 250.000 a month around that maybe 200.000
remember this is an international school!
all teachers will be qualified teachers with teaching diplomas, the hours will be 9:30 - 2:30 and upstairs there will be a hakwon with elementary schools, the kindergarten will provide, ballet, Art, piano also in the curriculum...buses will pick up from suji, seongnam, and singal areas..
all that side of kyung gi at the moment. might pick up other kids once we get started in different areas if asked..

duchman, your son looks huge in the kid's pics thread (and handsom too). it's hard to believe he is only 3. is he bigger than other kids his age or does he just have one of those "i'm no baby" faces?
.

He's really tall. It's a problem for him. Everyone assumes he's older than he is and therefore can speak better than he does. I feel bad for some of the kids in our building. They are two years older than him and shorter than him. My son doesn't know if he should call them 'hyeong', 'chingu' or 'dongsaeng'.

my friend's boy is like that too. he's 10 now so it's less of a problem. when he was younger though, it was difficult. here would be this big boy behaving like a baby (because he was a baby!)
still, being tall is pretty cool.
cheers!

well. our boy's number wasn't picked in the elementary school lottery so it looks like he will not be attending first grade until next year. i hope we have better luck then. we guessed it was all over when the 3 numbers (75, 76, and 77) before his (78 ) were picked.

i think we should send him to the same school he's attending now for a little constancy but my husband wants to find a more academic program. apparently, the time to register for march is now and yesterday.

does anyone out there have a story to share on the subject?

itaewonguy?

Last edited by Ody on Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:04 am; edited 1 time in total

Noribang or nolibang, not noraebang. A noribang is basically the same thing as an orini chib, only it caters to younger children and babies. And it might be smaller/more home-like. My daughter goes to a noribang for a few hours a day and there is only one other baby and about five or six toddlers there.

I fear raising kids here. I hate the TOTAL RAT RACE MENTALITY that pervades every aspect of Korean culture, especially with regards to schooling. Koreans constantly bittch and moan about the lack of quality education here. That's worrisome. I've heard it's near impossible to get a kid into one of the few international schools, and what if you don't live in Seoul? Forget about it.

Koreans must go cross-eyed when they see a foreign kid in a Korean school. Why stay here if your kid has the opportunity to study in your homeland where the educational system is certainly superior?